Celebrating National Days all over the World

backslashbaby

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Le Quatorze Juillet, bien sur!

And the 20th August is a huge fireworks day in Budapest :)

St. Stephen's Day in Hungary refers to 20 August, the day on which the relics of Stephen I of Hungary, patron saint of Hungary, were transferred to the city of Buda. This day is the ultimate public holiday in Hungary. Stephen, originally named Vajk, was the son of the pagan chieftain Géza but was baptized a Christian at the age of ten, and was given the Latin name "Stephanus" ("István" in Hungarian). In 997, a succession struggle between the Christian Stephen and his uncle, the pagan chieftain Koppány, ended in a victory for Stephen. As a result, the Magyar tribes were united into one nation and converted from paganism to Christianity; Pope Sylvester II presented him with a crown (which is the lower diadem of the Crown of St. Stephen, still a symbol of Hungary) as a token of gratitude. In 1083, Pope Gregory VII canonized Stephen, and he has since been referred to as Saint Stephen of Hungary.
During the period of Communist rule in Hungary, St. Stephen's Day was referred to as the anniversary of the Stalinist constitution of 1949 and "The celebration of the new bread — the end of the harvest".[citation needed]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Stephen's_Day#Hungary
 

Raphee

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Of course there's my birthday that all of you might want to celebrate. :)
 

crazynance

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@ Scarlett: That may be Boxing Day in the UK, but in North America, Boxing Day is Dec 26th, full stop.

Canada: Our Thanksgiving is always the second Monday in October.
Our Mother's Day is always the second Sunday in May and our Father's Day is always the third Sunday in June.
:D

Oh, and in the Canadian Province of Newfoundland, although they celebrate July 1st Canada Day, it is also Memorial Day as the Newfoundlander's, particularly St. Johns, lost almost 100 boys in a few hours in WWII.

And the Province of Quebec has 24 June - St Jean baptiste day.
 

SaraP

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Thanks everyone, they've been added.

Interesting that no one has come forth yet to do the USA. ;)
 

MacAllister

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Good point. :) The USian Independence Day is July 4.
 

Priene

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The English National Day is 23 April, St George's Day. Twenty years ago it was hardly celebrated at all, but seems to be coming back into fashion. By a happy coincidence, it's also Shakespeare's Birthday, which is a far cooler thing to commemorate.
 

aruna

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February 22, Guyana National Day.

Since I'm assuming most people here don't know much about Guyana, here's a mini-history:

The country is located on the northern coast of South America. It is bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by Suriname, on the south by Brazil, and on the west by Brazil and Venezuela. Georgetown is the capital. It is one of the four non-Spanish-speaking territories on the continent, along with the countries of Brazil (Portuguese), Suriname (Dutch) and the French overseas region of French Guiana (French). Culturally, Guyana associates primarily with the English-speaking Caribbean countries such as Jamaica, or Trinidad and Tobago.

Although Guyana is a sOuth America nation, it has more in common with the smaller islands of the West Indies with which it shares certain cultural, historical, and economic characteristics. Like most of the smaller islands that occupy the eastern Caribbean, Guyana was not settled by the Spanish and the Portuguese. Guyana was originally a Dutch colony that came under British control in the early 18th century. At 215,000 kilometers, Guyana is the third-smallest independent state on the mainland of South America (after Uruguay and Suriname). Its population is approximately 770,000.

Guyana’s economy was traditionally dominated by sugar cultivation since the early 18th century. When settlers introduced sugar production, it brought dramatic changes in the population of Guyana. European colonists imported large numbers of African slaves to work the fields. Later, following the abolition of slavery in the 19th century, workers arrived from the Indian subcontinent to work as laborers on the plantations.

By the end of the 20th century, Indians and African were the largest ethnic groups in Guyana.

In 1966, after more than 150 years of colonial rule, British Guiana achieved independence and adopted the name Guyana, a Native American word meaning “land of many waters.” The country achieved a republican status on February 23, 1970. Since independence, political parties have formed along ethnic lines, and moderately left-wing governments have ruled Guyana. Afro-Guyanese dominated the government until the 1990s, when a political party associated with Guyanese of Indian descent gained control of the government.

It is also the country that indirectly gave birth to the Booker Prize for Literature!
 

aruna

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October 3rd: Day of German Unity


German reunification (German: Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process in which the German Democratic Republic (GDR/East Germany) and Berlin, reunited into a single city, joined the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG/West Germany), as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die Wende (The Turning Point.). The end of the unification process is officially referred to as German unity (German: Deutsche Einheit), celebrated on 3 October (German Unity Day).[1]
 

rajkashana

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I am not sure if someone already gave this info.

For India,
15th August - Independence Day
26th Jan - Republic Day
 

PrincessofPersia

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Egypt was granted independence from the British protectorate on February 28, 1922. However, the Egyptian National Day is celebrated July 23 to commemorate the military coup that ultimately led to Egypt being declared a republic.
 

ganstream1

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Malaysia's Independence Day - 31st August
Malaysia Day - 16th September

Malaysia gained independence from the British colonials on the 31st of August 1957. It was then named Malaya but was renamed to Malaysia with the inclusion of Sabah and Sarawak (North Borneo then) and Singapore on the 16th of September 1963.
 

Raphee

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I am not sure if someone already gave this info.

For India,
15th August - Independence Day
26th Jan - Republic Day

Welcome Raj. Can anyone forget this name after DDLJ.
From Pakistan
 

Nakhlasmoke

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In South Africa, there are two biggies

April 27 - Freedom Day - first day everyone got the vote.

December 16 - Reconciliation Day - self explanatory? Everyone tries to forgive, make happy, make peace.
 

Dgaltfan

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well..... are we just doing national independence days because we have a few interesting memorial ones here too, with days for the great civil rights activist, MLK and president Abe Lyncon, and Pres Washington. I mean without any one of these three America wouldn't be America today.
 

chevbrock

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Next week (January 26), is Australia Day, if you are Anglo-Saxon, Invasion Day, if you are Aboriginal. It's the day Capt. James Cook first landed on Australian soil.
 

zaib

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What do you write?

Hello!

Great idea! It will be nice to find out more about the national days of other countries!

BTW, what does everyone write? I write YA fantasy, and would love to get to know others who write in the YA genre.
 

Laquesi

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Brazil: November 15th - Proclamation of the Republic.
Some history: "This commemorates the day in 1889 when Brazil's second Emperor, Dom Pedro II, was deposed and the United States of Brazil was declared by Field Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca."